What Really Happened To Ben In The Umbrella Academy? Every Theory Explained

The Umbrella Academy has a lot of mysteries waiting to be solved in the near future, among those everything about Ben Hargreeves and his death. As the comic books haven’t offered an answer either, fans have come up with different theories on what happened to Ben, and here’s every one of them. Based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy made its debut on Netflix in February 2019 and was so well-received it was renewed for a second season a few weeks later, with the new episodes arriving in July 2020.

The Umbrella Academy follows the Hargreeves, seven adopted siblings with exceptional abilities, and who along with other 36 babies were born on the same day, at the same time, and to women who weren’t pregnant when the day began. After learning of this curious event, scientist and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves set out to adopt as many of those babies as he could, but he only got seven. Reginald trained them and formed the superhero team “the Umbrella Academy”, but as he wasn’t a good father figure, the Hargreeves ended up parting ways, reuniting years later for Reginald’s funeral and to stop the apocalypse. The team started to break apart after Five’s disappearance (who jumped so many years into the future he couldn’t return) and even more following Ben’s death, which remains the biggest mystery of the series.

Viewers have met Ben and his dangerous powers through flashbacks and Klaus’ powers, as he’s the only one who can summon and communicate with him. Thanks to that, the audience knows that Ben can summon tentacled horrors from his body, which is not an easy power to deal with both physically and mentally. Ben died many years prior to the events of The Umbrella Academy season 1, and while season 2 featured his funeral, there’s still the big question of how he died – and here’s every fan theory about what really happened to Ben.

Ben Hargreeves Killed Himself

The most popular fan theory about what happened to Ben says that Number 6 actually killed himself, and there are a couple of details throughout seasons 1 and 2 of The Umbrella Academy that support the idea. The most important clue is his headstone, found at the Hargreeves mansion, which has an inscription that reads “May the darkness within you find peace in the light”. This made many viewers wonder if the “darkness within” Ben was not just his powers but inner struggles as well, possibly linked to depression, which drove him to commit suicide. Although Reginald’s speech during the funeral reveals he died during a mission, the suicide theory can still work as he could have killed himself while working with his siblings (quite possibly due to the burden of his powers and how they were used), which could have been interpreted by Reginald and the rest as the team failing to help their brother and save him.

Ben’s Death Was Caused By One Of The Hargreeves

A theory that surfaced after The Umbrella Academy season 2, mostly as a result of the aforementioned funeral scene and Reginald’s speech, is that about Ben’s death being one of his siblings’ fault. As mentioned above, Reginald wasn’t a good father, and he had some tough ways to educate and train his children – look no further than how he medicated Vanya for years and how he would lock Klaus in a mausoleum for hours. This attitude towards the kids was also present during Ben’s funeral, where he told the team they were not “good people” and that after years of training they let their brother die, with Allison quickly replying that it wasn’t their fault. Reginald’s words made many fans believe that it might truly be the fault of one of them, and there are two suspects: Klaus and Five.

Ben appearing only to Klaus is mostly thanks to Klaus’ powers, but Ben as a ghost doesn’t look the way he did when he died, which is how other ghosts manifest in front of Klaus. Most importantly, Ben aged along with his siblings, which made way for a lot of questions about what happened to him. Now, some fans believe it was Klaus’ fault that Ben died, so out of regret he immediately brought him back after the funeral, and they stuck together for years. Of course, this version of the theory implies that it was an accidental death (Ben couldn’t have even noticed who killed him), which is why Ben stayed with Klaus.

The theory that involves Five, on the other hand, gets a bit more complicated. With Five having worked for The Commission, some viewers believe he could have killed Ben as ordered by The Commission. This idea can get a bit messy as it’s all about time-travel, different timelines, and the role of The Commission in the universe, which is to oversee and manage the space-time continuum, meaning that anything that could change the course of events of that timeline will be exterminated by them. The Commission, then, could have known that the only way to stop the apocalypse of 1963 was if Ben was dead, so they sent old Five to kill his own brother, for the sake of the space-time continuum.

Ben Is Trapped In A Nightmare Dimension

The Hargreeves have unique abilities, some darker and more dangerous than others. Vanya and Ben are the two members of The Umbrella Academy with the most dangerous and hard to control powers, as seen with Vanya provoking the apocalypse in season 1. The bank robbery scene showed that Ben wasn’t comfortable using his powers, and with good reason, as it surely isn’t easy to have your stomach rip open and release monstrous tentacles. Ben’s powers, then, could have gotten out of control during a mission and swallowed him into that inter-dimensional link on his body. This would explain why he was able to age along with his siblings, as he’s not dead, and would also mean that among Klaus’ still undiscovered powers is the ability to communicate with other dimensions.

Ben Never Actually Died

Another theory suggests that Ben never died and Reginald has been hiding him for years. Perhaps the Hargreeves’ father and mentor was too scared and concerned about Ben’s powers that he decided to leave him in an induced coma so he could study him and his abilities. Reginald then faked Ben’s death and put the blame on the team in order to push them to be better, while he kept Ben far away from the rest, possibly at Hotel Oblivion. Ben, then, was summoned by Klaus through a new ability: astral projecting other people, which also explains why he grew up as he, just like in the previous theory, is not dead. Ben’s cause of death has been left a mystery on purpose, but hopefully, The Umbrella Academy will soon reveal what happened, or at least give more clues.

About The Author

Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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